How Londons’ SiLVA Restaurant Cook Up Stories From The World

SiLVA is a celebration of global tastes beneath contemporary designs evoking raw beauty and natural living landscape.

Within bustling footsteps and speedy lights of London’s Mayfair neighborhood, is a rare mew street illuminated by Michelin-starred restaurant SiLVA. The Mediterranean-inspired gem is led by owner Daria Grebenyuk who has brought her worldwide travels onto beautifully crafted plates, inside a romantic jewel designed by Atelier Wren.

The entire space is infused with the root of the word, silva, meaning “forest” in Latin. From soft petals swirled upon grooved murals to 3D plaster panels produced by French artists, natural tones and dimmed lights offer hungry diners an alluring setting from day to night. Within a short period of time since its grand opening a year ago, SiLVA has undeniably become a stylish hub for sophisticated Londoners and in-the-know travelers.

 

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What’s the meaning of the name SiLVA?

DG: Silva is a Latin word, it means forest woodland. I didn’t want to have a spoken language because I didn’t want people to have thoughts in relations to any particular cuisine because SiLVA is inspired by southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

There are so many pinpoints and metaphors of how we can portray forest within the restaurant. Obviously, firstly it’s the respect we have for the produce. Respect for the things we eat and how we source them, what’s on our plate is very important to us. Of course, forest can also be seen throughout the interior design of the restaurant. Every single point is connected to nature, one way or another. Even the walls are handmade murals, the texture can feel very leafy-like. Every little details in SiLVA is touched by nature.

What was your vision behind the restaurant?

DG: I realized later that a lot of the ideas and inspirations that I was gathering were coming from life experiences. I remember when I was 16 years old, my parents took me to Italy. It was one of the first times I had ever been there, we went to an Italian restaurant in Porto Cervo over a cliff where I tried lobster pasta for the first time. I was absolutely astonished by the taste, flavors and I fell in love with the way they cooked it. It was simple ingredients, but the produce were of such high quality.

From that, I began to gather various experiences and cuisines throughout the years. When I decided to open my own restaurant, I thought about all the beautiful dining experiences that I’ve had and I really want to share that with the people in London. I want them to come to SiLVA and feel the same way that I did when I tasted lobster pasta for the first time.

Tell us about your signature dishes!

DG: One of them is a poached egg that is beautifully deep fried with bread crumbs, it sits on parmesan mousse and girolle mushrooms. You can add truffles, if you wish. It’s a super delicate and flavorful dish, the inspiration came from one of the small restaurants in Pietrasanta, Italy. We do have a crab raviolo sitting on top of spinach with lobster bisque, that one is our signature as well. We change seasonally, every three months.

I’m a big fan of raw anything: raw fish, raw meat. I’ve been to Japan myself and loved every part of that experience. For our raw selections, we not only have dishes with Japanese influence but also South American with ceviches and citrus flavors. We really worked with that inspiration as well, while changing our raw menu every season.

With other dishes that change on the menu, the inspirations come from everywhere. We’ve had a really beautiful duck on the menu that was inspired by France with autumnal flavors using beans and chard. Or the venison on the menu, it’s cooked to perfection, with root vegetables. We take inspirations not only from the countries, but also from the produce that’s available to us. I think it’s important to keep changing menus, not only to intrigue the customer, but it’s great fun for the chefs as well.

Since the menu is so global, how do you manage sourcing ingredients?

DG: We use local ingredients and we also source from other parts of Europe, like: France and Italy. It depends on the season of whatever is available, even tomatoes now are in season at different times. So we don’t solely use local produce.

It’s so cool that you’re in the Mayfair neighborhood…

DG: Since we’re on Bruton Place, it’s a charming mew street. It’s very unique in Mayfair, there aren’t a lot of places like that. It’s curated in a very nice manner, we’ve got more independent retail and restaurants here than other places in Mayfair. I’m friends with all the owners of the neighboring restaurants as well, every single one is unique in their own way. Overall, this street really benefits from that.

How did it feel to receive your first Michelin star so soon?

DG: It wasn’t a goal in our first year, but it’s been great. When I received the call, it was such a surprise because I didn’t really expect it, neither did the team. We’re super grateful, it’s been really amazing. It shows that not only I, myself, think that this restaurant is something special, but other people in the industry also think the same way too.

What’s an advice you can give to aspiring restaurant owners?

DG: To have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and stick to it. It’s really easy to have everything in your head, but once you have other people coming in giving you ideas which might be great and you can take them onboard, but I think it’s very important not to dilute your initial concept. And take it one step at a time, it gets hard, of course, but I think it’s important that when you have a goal in mind, to work towards that goal and take little steps everyday.